Today’s episode of Africa’s Weekly Funding Review is exciting. As always, we recorded some fundraising and acquisition announcements this week in the African tech & startup ecosystem.
If you missed it, here are the highlights:
- Persistent Energy Capital raised $10 million Series C funding round
- Bloc acquired Orchestrate Finance
- Zazuu raised $2 million in a new venture round funding
- Swipe raised $500,000 in a pre-seed funding round
- Stakefair raises $670,000 in a pre-seed funding round
Funding
Zazuu, a U.K.-based and Africa-focused fintech that offers a platform for sending money across the border, raised $2 million in a new venture round funding from Launch Africa, Founders Factory Africa, and Hoaq Club, ODBA VC, Jonomi Ventures, Tinie Tempah, Jason Njoku and Babs Ogundeyi.
Persistent Energy Capital, Africa’s Climate Venture Builder, raised a $10 million Series C funding round led by Kyuden International Corporation, a Japanese Kyushu Electric Power Group subsidiary, and Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Africa Investments. Also participating in the round include other private investors, high-net-worth individuals (HNI) and business persons, Kotaro Tamura, BK Ventures BV and DPI Energy Ventures.
Stakefair, a Nigerian DeFi startup that provides a platform where users can earn interest on digital currencies when betting on a sporting event, raised a $670,000 pre-seed fund. The investors participating in the round include Adaverse, Nestcoin, Kepple Africa Ventures, Canza Finance, Voltron Capital, Echo VC Chain, Timi Ajiboye, Tomiwa Olaosebikan, Peter Kisadha, Saturn Blockchain Ventures, Thrive Africa Syndicate, Nehikhare Igbinijesu, Oluchi Enebeli, and Clement Hugbo.
Swipe, a Nigerian fintech that empowers businesses and individuals by enabling seamless credit transactions, raised $500,000 in a pre-seed funding round.
Aza Petrosolutions, a Morocco-based company that provides services, solutions, and superior software and hardware for fuel management, raised $296,000 in a venture funding round from Maroc Numeric Fund II.
DigsConnect, the largest student accommodation marketplace on the African continent, raised an undisclosed Pre-Series A seed extension round from Launch Africa, Goodwater Capital, Five35 Ventures and Delta Ventures.
Smartprof, a Morocco-based Edtech that offers an on-demand tutoring app for school-aged students, received $50,000 in funding after winning the third cohort of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) Startgate and Plug and Play Morocco startup competition.
Acquisitions
🚗 Swvl announced the acquisition of Mexico-based Urbvan Mobility Ltd
Venture Capital
🤑 Silicon Badia’s Badia Impact Squared Fund (BIF2) received a $5.2 million investment from Tunisia-based Smart Capital, the manager of the Anava fund of funds.
That’s all for this week. Kindly share this newsletter with your friends.
